Each day, we are deluged with messages—digital and social media posts, as well as e-marketing blasts, which blur indistinguishably, sap our attention
spans, and fall flat in their intended purposes of capturing mindshare and being memorable.

One of our staff members is a docent at the Skirball Museum and Cultural Center in Los Angeles, which hosted the exhibition “Houdini: Art and Magic” As a result of
her participation, we learned that Harry Houdini was an early, and very effective, practitioner of marketing. He was so successful, in fact,
that he remains an American icon – as famed as Babe Ruth or Charles Lindbergh-- 85 years after his death on Halloween, 1926.

Today’s trend toward political correctness can be a bonanza for public
relations experts when corporations or their spokespersons take actions that blossom into PR disasters. Witness the dust-up over the president of Chick-fil-A’s
anti-gay marriage statements. A trip back in time to the accompanying ads of the 1950s and 60s provides a reality check on how muchtimes have changed,
certainly for the better with respect to religious, racial, gender and sexual-preference inclusion (a certain chicken sandwich purveyor's remarks notwithstanding).

Never underestimate the ability of a powerful message to influence public opinion and to achieve
specific goals. Time Magazine piece on Downtown L.A.’s renaissance
illustrates the benefits of staying “on message”—in this case for more than a decade.

Seemingly forgotten are the days when the words “Cola Wars” implied Coca-Cola and Pepsi taste tests and new-fangled formulations. (Who can forget the New Coke marketing
“train wreck?”) These days, however, the hunters—mostly for each other’s market share to quench consumers’ collective thirst—have
become the hunted.

We’re always on the watch for excellent communications programs. One of the best we've seen in a long
time is the cause marketing and issue-education campaign in support of Autism Awareness Month (AAM), which kicked off with a commemorative day
on April 2 and built momentum through the month.